For ‘rebel’ illustrious director Ramesh Sippy, (of iconic ‘Sholay’ fame), getting esteemed awards is nothing new. But when he was presented with the ‘Raj Kapoor Award for Excellence in Entertainment’ by Kate L. Folb (Director-Hollywood Health & Society) and by Victor H. Orozco Olvera (World Bank- Economist) he seemed quite ‘overwhelmed’. It was at the exclusive classy conclave event convened by the dynamic co-founder Vinta Nanda of ACEE-The Third Eye.
Justifying his sentiments, ‘perfectionist’ Ramesh said, “I am truly honoured, because I am the very first recipient of the Award named after the greatest showman Raj Kapoor whom I profusely admire. Present in the audience were Randhir, Rishi and Rajeev Kapoor, the worthy sons of the legendary Raj Kapoor, who were also honoured and also participated in a heart-warming R.K.-centric anecdotes-sharing session with noted veteran journalist-TV show host Shekhar Gupta.
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Speaking exclusively to ADC, the unassuming Ramesh revealed, “Raj Kapoor-saab had always been encouraging right from my directorial debut ‘Andaz’ (1971). Not only did Raj-ji personally attend my various film celebration parties, premieres and launches, he inspired me when he said ‘l will be watching your work’. I grew up on a ‘diet’ of meaningful cinema made by various film-makers including Raj-saab. The ‘RK’ movie ‘Shree 420’, with its tragic-comic common-man connect, had then intrigued me – which I guess paved the way for ‘Mera Naam Joker’.”
Sippy is all praise for Akshay Kumar’s realistic maverick movies which generate ‘social awareness’ like ‘Toilet – Ek Prem Katha’ and the latest ‘Pad Man’ directed by R. Balki, who was also honored at the same event. “Cinema is mainly about audio-visual story-telling – but ‘how’ you narrate the story with a telling impact, makes all the difference,” shrugs Ramesh.